Game of Thrones (GoT): S01, E01: Winter is Coming

It starts with three members of the Night’s Watch. Two are killed and the other survives. He becomes a deserter. We shift to Winterfell. The fun the Starks were enjoying was interrupted by an announcement. A deserter of the Night’s Watch was captured. Lord Stark executes the deserter. His party finds a dead direwolf with six pups–four boys, two girls: the same as Lord Stark’s children (including the bastard, Jon Snow). The pups grow very attached to the children.

It is discovered that Jon Arryn, the King’s Hand, died. Queen Cersei worries that Jon Arryn may have shared some unmentionable secret. A message arrives at Winterfell that King Robert was going to be paying a visit. Lord Ned Stark knows that King Robert will ask him to be the next King’s Hand.

The king’s party arrives. A feast is given in the king’s honor. Ned is asked to be the King’s Hand. Catelyn (Lady Stark) and Cersei agree that Sansa and Prince Joffrey should be betrothed. Jon Snow talks to his uncle Benjen Stark, a member of the Night’s Watch, about wanting to take the black.

Catelyn and Ned are resting in bed. A note comes from her sister, Lysa, the widow of Jon Arryn. She says that Arryn was murdered by the Lannisters. After this revelation, Ned decides to become the King’s Hand.

Bran, a legitimate son of Lord Stark, likes to climb. While he’s climbing, he hears a conversation between the queen and her brother. He also sees them having sex. He is caught and tells them who he is. After a minute of arguing, Ser Jaime (one of the queen’s brothers) pushes Bran out the tower window, where he falls and comes to injure himself.

Viserys Targaryen prepares his sister, Daenerys, to meet a possible husband. He weds his sister to Khal Drogo, leader of one of the khalasars (a tribe of Dathraki). He does this in hopes that he will use Khal Drogo’s army to take back the Iron Throne and regain his family’s leadership of the Seven Kingdoms. He keeps Daenerys in line by warning her to not “wake the dragon.” The wedding is performed in traditional Dathraki style.

This closely matches what is in the novel. At the end of this episode, you feel sorry for Bran and Daenerys. You also come to feel loathing for Cersei and Viserys.